Time for an update.

Well Christmas is over and the New Year is approaching. I guess it is time to bring things up to date.

Dave was able to come home from the Hospital the day after his hip operation. Dave is of course Tami's husband. I was very surprised that they let him out so soon. After all they reconstructed his hip socket. I guess Buckaroo's are tougher than the rest of us. Tami at least was able to be overwhelmed at home rather than driving back and forth about 260 miles a day. Just one of the perks of being out of the rat race. Overall worth it.

As you can guess our hawking has gone into a holding pattern for a bit. Karen quite frankly isn't up to the rigors of Harris Hawking, and I can't handle two Harris Hawks by my self. The problem is Yogi and her default setting of hunting on her own. Pud would be just fine, but Yogi has a tendency to go off on her own, and is too big to share a T perch with Pud. It is just easier to not take them both hunting. I have tried Yogi on her own and it hasn't worked out. She tends to go off on her own without Pud there to focus her attention. The last two times I have tried it, she has ended up hunting Voles by flying off to any fence post around.

I did take Jessie out for some ditch hawking with Karen, and it too turned into a fiasco of the first order. The chance of getting the first flush right to the point that Jessie can get a Duck over land is fairly slim, and that day was no exception. She was a bit more selective, in fact to the point that I felt that she was refusing chances, but it is hard to tell. She could have just been waiting for a good opportunity. She finally ran out of steam about the same time I ran out of Ducks, and landed on the far side of the creek. I thought that I still had three Teal on the creek in front of me, and was prepared to wait, but she got up off the ground and flew as though she was going to remount, but she turned over and flew into the Greasewood. It was a bit strange as it looked as though she was after something, but I had not seen anything. I walked around for a bit, and then decided that I had better check on her.

When I crossed the creek and got to the fence, I saw her duck into the brush. When I got there I found that she had ground sluiced a Coot.

What a great flight that had been. Oh well, they all count one, especially to her. I went up to her, and she was on the fight, attacking me with beak and talon as soon as I bent down. I am not sure what was on her mind, but she was obviously feeling guilty and protective.

She really didn't like the taste of it either, and after trying pieces of it all over decided that she would rather eat the Pigeon that I had.

The weather after that got really cold, with the temps getting down into the single digits most mornings. My primary water source, a Frost free? faucet got so cold that I pulled the rod off of the buried operational part, so I am back to carrying water, until I can dig it up. The water line is about three feet down, so I was surprised that I had problems with it.

We have all had our Christmas, and a grand one it was too. Karen and I joined the ranch for Christmas dinner. It was quite a treat, with 5 kids, 9 adults and all the wrapping paper needed to make a Christmas for kids. Reuben had asked Santa for a BB gun, and Tami decided that was a good idea and got one for me as well.

Along with enough BB's to eliminate most of the Pack Rat population.

After Christmas we had a storm blow in that brought the temps up in the 50's, but it also brought a lot of wind. We had gusts yesterday at 36 mph.

It calmed down enough that I decided that it might be wise to use the down time to reacquaint Yogi to flying to the fist. The last time we flew her near the house she ended up at the Chicken house trying her best to become a Chicken Hawk, so I decided that I would fly her on the creance. Not a big deal. I was preparing stuff while she was sitting on her perch in the weathering area. I found a nice creance that was secured to a piece of PVC with shot in it for weight. I had already fed Pud and left her in the shop so that she would not be teased by me calling another bird, and not being able to respond.

I decided to fly her in front of the weathering area as the hanger blocked a lot of the wind, and we were out of sight of the Chickens. I got the creance and tossed the PVC part out, unwinding the string. Yogi saw the PVC and bated at it. I knew that I was in for trouble, but what was done was done. I got her out, tied her to the creance and started to walk to the fence to call her. She stood on tippy toes and took off over my shoulder and onto the creance. She would not leave it. She walked around with it in her feet, tugging and looking for the meat that just had to be there. She came a couple of times to the fist, bringing it with her, but would not leave it alone. I finally got Karen out to help me untangle her, and Karen kept it in her vest so that I could get something out of the lesson.

Today the wind again died down and I prepared to fly her to the fist again. I set her on the fence and turned around to walk back a ways and she zoomed past me to grab the creance again. I had not tied her to it this time, and I had not moved it even so much as a twitch, but it didn't matter. I had tossed it out a couple of days ago and that was good enough for her. The only thing that works is to let her decide that there was no food on it, so I walked into the house to get my camera, leaving her stumping around on the ground with it in her feet.

http://vimeo.com/34357369

She had gone to the fence by the time I got outside. When she went under the fence with it, I went back into the house to drop off the camera. By the time I got back she had gone up to the chimney on the hanger without it. We finished her flights with no more problems.

Jasper- Jessie - Dave.

Tami came over around 2PM to fly Jasper. We have been discussing establishing some different areas to hunt Sparrows as the ones here are showing the effects of being hunted too often. They are learning, and with knowledge comes survival.

We did our best here, but most of the Sparrows had abandoned the area when Tami showed up, so we were left with a bagged Starling. Jasper was keeping vigil over us as we walked into the field in front of the hanger, and when he was in position, I yelled and tossed the Starling. He wasted no time in binding to it at about 35 feet and took it to the ground. Tami helped him with it and we retired to the shop to let him eat a bit, while I got Jessie's stuff together for her hunt.

I went over to the ranch at about 3:45 P and Tami, Reuben and I went down the creek to see if Jessie could come up with another Duck. Again she smacked two ducks, one of which was propelled into a large patch of Greasewood. She went down to try to get it, but could not get through the brush. I went to the other side of the creek to see if I could help her, but I wasn't sure which bush it went into. I had to resort to my telemetry to locate her, and by then she gotten impatient and thought that I had the duck. She made several circles around me, whiffing me with her wings, and once landing on my shoulder. I could do nothing to help her however.

She went back up, and although we tried, nothing worked out. About half way up the creek, Grace came running up yelling that Dave was hurt. Tami went to be with Dave and administer assistance. I walked back, gathered up Jessie and fed her.

When I got to the ranch house, Dave was in a chair, and in great pain. He had been working a horse, and his Dog apparently "heeled" the horse as he was going around the arena. As they came around again, either the horse remembered, or the dog did it again, and the horse bucked Dave off onto the frozen ground. This had occurred around 3:45 PM. He had lain on the ground for an hour or so before he could get to the fence. Every one was gone, but finally Sam got close enough that he could get his attention. They were able to get him on the tail gate of Sam's PU. Sam and Isabel got him into the house and in the chair. I got there around 5 PM. Tami had of course called the ambulance, but it was at least an hour out. Dave's dad, and a neighbor from Rome had also came in response to the kids call for help.

We were waiting for conformation that the Ambulance was on its way, when Tami got a call and was told that the "Life Flight" chopper was near the house, so we went out and used cars to indicate a landing zone. They were finally able to set down and the two Paramedics got him on a back board and we carried him to the chopper. They were soon airborne to  St Alfonse in Boise.

He apparently blew out the socket on his thigh breaking his pelvis in three or four places. He still hasn't had surgery, should be soon however. Prognostication is good, but he won't be riding for a year or more.

With all that has happened and the necessary loss of my main helper, I will suspend the Harris Hawk's hunting for a while, and probably will not hunt Jessie until after Christmas.

I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy holidays. I thank each and every one of you that follow this little blog for your interest and patience.

Puddy 16, Yogi 7.

Sometimes it seems as if there is someone looking over my shoulder, checking to see if I am keeping to business. Probably my imagination.

Tami brought over Jasper this evening at about 1:30 P, but the Sparrows are getting too smart to be trapped in the Chicken pens and giving Jasper a chance to get after them. So after exausing all of our possibilities, we tied him to Jessie's perch in the shop with the intent to try to fly him after we got back from hunting the girls.

We took the girls to Arock to see if we could catch a couple of rabbits. The Jacks are either getting scarce with all the Eagle depredations, or they are getting smart. Both are probably in play. We found quite a few of fur piles, and the Jacks have started hiding, hard. Finally after a few chases that did not pan out, Puddy launched herself off Tami's perch and slammed into a Jack hiding in his form. Yogi joined in and secured the head.

You will notice that Puddy's wings are pinned by the bush. I had to pry the bush apart so that she could move up on the Jack.

This is a rabbit " Form", they will clear all the grass and sticks and sometimes they hide them inside a Sage Bush, but this one was in a clump of Sage. It just wasn't enough cover to keep Puddy from seeing it. It never got a chance to run. The interesting part of the whole thing is that this Rabbit had had a run in with a Harris Hawk last year.

That is his right ear, and as you can see it is split for about two inches. Either Sue or Peg got hold of him last year. You can run, and you can hide, just not forever.

After we fed the girls a bit, we started back to the car. It was pretty sparse for rabbits in the area that we were moving through, and we didn't see anything until we were right in front of the car. We started a Bunny and Pud slammed into a bush hard enough to make us all wince, but missed him. Yogi had stayed behind on a pile of rocks, and was far enough away that she could play no part in the chase. She finally caught up, and I decided to go just a bit further around an outcropping just in case.

As I neared the outcrop, Yogi took off and cut a sharp circle around the rocks. Pud went to the top of them to watch. When I got on the backside, I could see Yogi down in a crack in the rocks with her feet stuck in the hole and grabbing again and again at the Bunny. I looked in the front part of the rocks and could see the Bunny. All it took was to stick the end of the perch in the hole, and Yogi had something to hold onto.

She drug him out, and we had our second double where both of the birds caught something. We fed them up and made our way back home.

We took Jasper out again and got a fair number of chases, one of which, he caught a Sparrow in the rock pile, but lost him while trying to work his way out of the rocks. Tami had to feed him some cold Sparrow, the first in a long time.

I fed Jessie some Bunny to hold her over until tomorrow when we will try for Ducks again. Sometimes there just isn't enough hours in a day to do every thing that you want to do.

Just Falcons today

Tami and I took the girls out yesterday to hunt, and the best they could do is pull hair, so they got very little to eat and a trip home. We had hunted them so long that it was too late to fly Jessie, so I fed her a Pigeon breast to hold her over for today. Tami has to deliver some horses to Ontario tomorrow, so the girls will not be able to fly tomorrow either. I fed them a Starling to hold them over.

Tami came over about 1:45 and she turned Jasper loose, but all the Sparrows and Starlings have been a lot more circumspect about hanging around the Chicken house. Jasper went over to his perch on the other side of the Chicken house, and I went inside to flush. Unfortunately there were a couple of Sparrows in the trap, and he wasted no time crawling through the fence to get after them. I picked up the trap, with Jasper hanging on the side, and was trying to capture one to take outside. The Sparrow settled the discussion by blasting out of the trap and through the wire of the pen. Jasper of course was after him and caught him at the bottom of the wire. Settled that I suppose.

I caught a Pigeon for Jessie, and loaded everything up, when Karen decided that she wanted to go. Fine with me. The area that I hunt on the ditch is actually just right for spectator viewing. We picked Tami up and were soon ready to release Jessie.

 After a good look around and a rouse, she took off to get some altitude and check out the possibilities.

She soon located the largest concentration of Ducks on the ditch and we moved in for the flush. I walked up to the ditch and Mallards erupted every where. She turned over in a stoop and slashed a Mallard Drake, but he only bobbled, and kept flying. She came around again and I pushed some more out of the ditch. She smacked another Drake a bit harder and tore a stream of feathers out of him, but he didn't go down either and she chased him up the ditch all the way to the houses, but could not close on him.

She began to circle further up the ditch, where I am sure the large bunch that we had flushed right in front of me had gone. She continued circling there so long that I was concerned that she would tire before she came back to where we could do some good.

Ducks kept flushing out of the ditch in front of me, whenever they thought that they could make good their escape. I began to worry that when she did come back, it would be to an empty ditch, but she finally started my way. I started up the ditch, and a bunch of Teal got up. Jessie made a quick strafing run and slashed one of the Teal out of the air. She made a quick turn and I heard the Teal squawk, so I assumed that she had caught it.

When I got over there, she had jumped to the top of a Grease Wood bush. It was obvious that the duck was in the bush. I got down on my knees looking all through the bush, but could not find it. I was very concerned that the Teal would make its escape back into the creek, so I enlisted Tami's help. I put my vest in front of the bush to hopefully block the Teal, and went back for Tami. There was no reason for her to get wet, so I carried her piggy back across the creek. While I was crossing to get her, I saw Jessie bail off the bush. By the time that we got back, there was no sign of Jessie. I began to look in the bush, but could see neither her or the Teal. I stood up to change perspective and saw another bush move. I went over to look, and there was Jessie tucked so far in the bush that she was very difficult to see.

 I went to the bush, and moved a whole bunch of stuff out of the way, so that I could see her and the teal. Peregrines are supposed to be unwilling to go into cover for game. Apparently Jessie hasn't read that book yet.

I pulled her out into the open so that she could eat, and tied her to my bag. I then carried Tami back across the creek to where Karen was standing.

I decided to let her eat the Duck rather than trading her for it. Teal are a lot more palatable than the other Ducks. Jessie for sure likes them well enough to actually eat more than the fat. She was quite happy with my decision.

 When she was done, I hooded her, and put her in the car for the trip home. We will see how long it takes her to come down to flying weight again.

 This is all she had left. I didn't have to pick this one, to my great pleasure.

Teal are the toughest quarry out there in the duck world. We normally do not get them here very much, for which I am thankful. The Teal will throw themselves to the ground to escape the falcons flight when ever possible, but this one didn't get the chance.

Back in the groove again.

Yogi has not been putting in the required effort to actually catch rabbits. She has been going through the motions, but on the whole, she has been coasting. That is just not acceptable! I began three days ago, cutting her weight, and taking her out on her own. I wanted her to have no excuses or anyone to depend on. The first day did not last all that long. She refused several Jacks, so I took her home with no food other than the tidbits required to pick her up. She lost down to about 1125 Grams. The next day I took her out, and she didn't really want to hunt with me, but to go off on her own as she was used to doing while she was in the wild. That one didn't last all that long either. She lost down to 1100 grams. Yesterday I again took her out, and she was trying for all she was worth, but it was obvious that she needed some of the type of help that Pud could supply. On the whole, a thinking and unhurried Jack Rabbit is a safe Rabbit. About the only way that the girls catch one is to keep it unsure of where the danger is coming from. She came so close to catching one of the close ones that I was amazed that she had not in fact caught it. She again went off on her own to hunt. I called her back to the lure, only feeding her a bunny front leg, before taking her home.

Today Tami was able to go with me to help, so we took both birds. Pud is still a bit high, but Yogi was at 1120 grams. I expected Puddy to catch something pretty fast, but to my great surprise Yogi took off and climbed up a bit, then turning over, slamming through the Sage to stop a fleeing Bunny.

 Puddy flew over to see if there was room for her to jump in, but Yogi had it pretty well covered, and I was able to interject the T Perch, and hold her off long enough for Tami to get a hand full of tidbits to placate her.

We went on after feeding Yogi a front leg. She was still quite anxious to hunt. Apparently the bunnies are not all that filling, at least front legs aren't. :-) We got a few more slips, and Yogi was giving it her all, while Puddy was sulking, and not trying at all. Yogi took a perch on the fence line, and didn't want to leave. I had to toss my glove up in the air to get her to come. Pud of course grabbed it. I finally got it away from her, and we turned away from the fence.

 We had not gone too far when a Jack busted right beside Tami and Yogi. Yogi jumped high in the air and came down over some rocks and nailed the Jack. This time the front end was empty and Puddy wasted no time in jumping in. 

 We got them separated, by offering Yogi another leg. Pud also came off quite well with a leg from the Jack. I retired to the bushes to clean and skin the rabbits, as well as to rip the bunny apart for their meal. We were in the field about an hour. This is Yogi's first time to make a double, and both of these were caught without the added distraction of Pud as well. A few days of "tough love" and no food will change any raptors mind set. Even with the late start that we have had, they have caught 20 Rabbits. That is not a lot by any stretch of the imagination, but I am not "campaigning" them either.

Jessie was again at weight and anxious to have me pick her up to hunt, so after we got home, I did a few chores and at 4PM I went to get her. She was still down about an ounce from where I normally consider her ideal flying weight.

After much consideration of the last few days of hunting, my brain finally understood what she has been doing. I have been trying to hunt in front of Tami's house. There are generally one or two ducks in there, but the major flocks are further down the creek. Jessie, as all intelligent raptors are wont to do, will go to where the game is. It is much easier to see a large flock of ducks and go there, patiently waiting for her dumb shit falconer to come down there and flush them for her. What she has been doing is flying really high for her (3 to 400 feet) until she gets tired, then sitting down to do it again, and I have been up the creek without a clue, waiting for her to come to me. It is so obvious that I am a bit embarrassed.

The creek is called Crooked Creek, and for good reason. The area that the ducks prefer is a series of tight serpentine curves where the creek is a bit wider.  Last night was better, but again, I missed seeing, because of preconceived ideas. I asked Tami to go further up the creek, and we would bracket them by about 100 yards. We would then either be in position to block them and to keep ducks in the air as well. Good ideas, but I still fell down. I turned her loose way too far from the creek, thinking that she was just enjoying the ability to fly. Not so! She kept circling one area, and while I adjusted, I didn't go far enough down the creek to hit them right. Instead I hit them in the middle and they choose to go down the creek away from Tami. While we got her some shots, they were not anywhere what she should have had. About the only chance she had was a head on shot with Mallard drakes. She once broke her leg by hitting a Drake Mallard head on, and I consider her smart to avoid that kind of thing. So again we wasted all her energy, and she had to come to the lure.

We had found a closer area to drive to that did not leave us a nasty walk through the Grease wood. This time, my brain was working a bit better, and I realized what she had been doing. As I walked down towards the creek, I could hear ducks down the creek, but she kept her circles tight in one spot. I adjusted and came in at the edge of her flight circles and flushed a pile of Mallards up the creek to Tami. She waved her arms and yelled, turning them inland. One separated out of the flock and was trying to cut back to the creek just in front of me. Jessie came out of her stoop on an interception course, dropping lower than he was and hit him a slight uppercut in either the head or the neck, knocking him out of the air with a whack. She turned a tight circle and landed on him. When I got there the ducks head was stuck in a Grease Wood Bush and Jessie was trying to drag him out. I helped her pull him to the open, and I kept him from beating her with his wings.

 This is the first time in four years that she has hit one from the front. I know that she was frustrated with the past few days, and was not about to go home without a full crop.

After she had killed him and drank a bit of his blood, she began to pluck. I offered her a Pigeon and she was only too glad to trade. I secured her to my bag and left her alone to eat while I cleaned the duck. After I was done, I picked her up with absolutely no objections on her part and we walked back to the car while she finished the Pigeon.

Quite a day! I got one of my hawks to listen to me, and Jessie got me to listen to her.

Mystery Predator and Jasper

Actually the predator is not that much of a mystery, but it sounded good, I thought. The Bob Cat returns! This morning after the day dawned rather weakly, I looked outside from all the windows as I tend to do, checking for signs of Cats and Coyotes. I looked in the back yard and there is a strange lump that was not there before this morning.

 I couldn't make it out, so I put a coat on and went to see. Imagine my surprise to find that it was a Bobcat kill, that had been covered up as big cats are wont to do. I knew that Cougars routinely rake leaves and branches over their kills to keep other predators from finding and robbing their kills, but I did not expect the Bob Cat to do so in my yard.

 It had eaten everything from the ears to the hind legs. It of course raked the guts out, but ate most of all the organs. I have to admit that I find this all to be somewhat amusing. At least so far that is. It has to be a young cat. I just cannot believe that an adult of some experience doing this kind of stuff. It is pretty bold, and I suspect pretty dumb to be bold enough to come and go with apparent disregard of the two dogs, and occasional people walking around.

Now I will admit that I was shocked at the amount of both Jacks and Bunnies that frequent this place after dark. I don't know for sure how far they come to feed on my yard and the hay by the corral, but some of them come from pretty far away, I think. If I try hard I can jump perhaps 5 Jacks within a 1/4 mile of the house, but there must have been close to 30 around the house the other night. That would make this place seem like a mecca for a night prowler like the Bob Cat. We have decided that if it sticks to Rabbits, we will coexist. Or rather we have decided to see how long it will stick to Rabbits.

This however, what with the covered kill in the yard would be the perfect time to build a "Machan" over the kill and wait up all night for it to come back. Too many stories of maneaters when I was a kid I guess.

Tami brought Jasper over for his evening meal around 1:30 P. Since I have been so remiss in my duties, I decided to carry the big camera for this outing.

Tami did her sneak through the corral again, and Jasper materializing over the loafing shed pinned a few Sparrows in the rocks behind the Chicken pen. I went into the pen as he was trying to get a clear shot at a hiding Sparrow. My appearance caused the Sparrow to bolt, which was a bad move. Jasper caught him on the flat rock in this picture, and they fell off in the fight. You can see his wing only.

 He got himself somewhat straightened out, and flew up to another rock, where he killed the Sparrow.

 You will notice he has the Sparrow in a strangle hold around the neck. The Sparrow by this time was already dead. It doesn't take him long with Sparrows.

 Tami finally got close enough for him to see her and he was opening his wings waiting for her to call him.

He carried his prize to her fist to eat his meal.

My efforts with both the Harris Hawks and Jessie came to nothing but exercise. Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

Busy day!

When I put the birds out this morning, I found that Jessie was not going to be flying today. A bit too much Pigeon will do that for you. The "Girls" would be at an acceptable weight by afternoon, so the morning was free.

I didn't have quite enough Ducks for our dinner tomorrow night, so I picked up the shotgun to see if I could fill the gap with a walk up the creek. The answer is, just barely. The last time I went duck hunting was when they banned lead shot. Not sure how long ago that was, but it was apparently too long. Some one has been tampering with my shotgun. The damn thing doesn't shoot straight any more. I did manage to get two ducks, and that with the three that Jessie has killed, and a Chicken thrown in for those with a queasy appetite, should suffice.

Then I had four young roosters that needed to go in the freezer, and the two ducks to pick, so my morning turned into a mid day chore. Tami and Isabel came over to fly Jasper at 1:30 PM. Tami felt sorry for me and picked one of the Ducks.

This time we watched the Chicken pen, and waited until it filled up with Sparrows and Starlings. Tami did a sneak through the corral, and Jasper made short work of his efforts to feed himself. Before I could even get there he had caught and killed a Sparrow. That makes 17 head for the guy. No camera, of course. :-/

While he ate, I finished cleaning the Chickens. We then picked up the Girls and headed to the field to see how the Rabbit hunting would go. On the way there in a two mile stretch we counted 10 Golden Eagles either sitting on telephone poles or on the ground. Glad they were there instead of where we wanted to hunt.

We had just gotten into the field when Yogi took off after a rabbit that was so far away that we never saw it. We walked on wanting her to come to us. We had not gone far when Pud took off after something in the Sage where we had already walked. I was horrified to see a LARGE cat running with Pud hot after him. It of course took her no time at all to grab him in the butt. I braced myself for the worst, as these type of interactions generally do not turn out well. I am not sure what actually happened, but she turned loose of him, and he ran on. Yogi by this time had seen the flight and the cat, and she was flying an interception course. Apparently this time the cat was much smarter and made it to a hole. Yogi can see way too well to leave her any opportunity to figure out where this cat was. I yelled, and she ignored me. I waved my hat and threw it up in the air to get her attention. That worked well. Yogi started, and Pud caught my hat before it hit the ground. Then she was running around through the bushes with my hat. Much to Tami and Isabel's enjoyment. She was convinced that there was some kind of a prize hidden in that hat. I finally distracted her by throwing tidbits on the ground for her, while I stepped on my hat. You do not want to put your hand down there unless you have a glove on it. She is not mean, she just can't help herself. I finally retrieved my hat and we went on.

We managed about 10 feet when Pud took off and slammed into a bush just in front of us. A Bunnies squeal informed us that she had again managed to catch something. When I got there she had the Bunny about halfway up the bush. He was standing on his rear legs. Puddy had one foot in his ribs, and the other over a limb and into his head. I had a heck of a time getting them untangled. She did not want to give this one up at all. I gave her a Jack's hind leg, up to what would be the calf with a foot on it. She didn't want it, she wanted the whole Bunny. I finally got her untangled enough to rip off a front leg, and she finally took that and went to the next bush to eat it. Tami had given Yogi a few tidbits and was holding her to keep her out of the tangle. When Pud left I threw the rest of the Jack leg into a bush. I picked up Pud and we walked on.

There are lots of Bunnies in this field, and we had a merry time trying to outsmart another one. They managed to evade us at every turn, even though we had some heroic vertical dives into the bushes and rocks. Finally it began to get dark, and even though I didn't want to, we decided to call it an evening and started back to the car. On the way Yogi saw another Bunny run over this little hill and we walked up to get her. She was on my perch and suddenly dived off and into a bush. She had something, but it sure wasn't a rabbit. As I walked up, Pud dived in through the other side and was crabbing with Yogi. I looked in and realized that it was the Jack leg that I had thrown away earlier in the day. Pud had her foot wrapped around Yogi's foot. It didn't look like she had her talons in her foot, but I didn't want it to get any further. I had put a leather work glove on my right hand, so I just reached down and used the "Vulcan Death Grip" ( grabbed her by the neck. That insures that she will turn loose of whatever she has and will grab the hand that is holding her) I then gave her to Tami to hold. I reached into my bag and pulled out a ziplock baggie with some meat in it, but not the one that I wanted. I stuffed it into the bag on my left side, and was fumbling around in the one on my right, when Pud slammed into my side, reached into my bag and pulled out the zip lock bag, going back to Tami to see what her prize was. I traded her a front leg without the plastic covering.

While Tami kept Puddy amused, I retired to a distant bush to rip the Bunny apart for their final meal. Puddy by this time had quite an assortment of bunny parts in her feet even when we arrived at the car. Yogi finished hers and went quietly into her giant hood. It was getting late and a bit chilly, so I told Tami to take her into the car and she could eat while we made our way home.

Puddy has turned into quite an amusing, and very pleasing hawk, not to mention a "kick ass" hunting hawk. Hunts are never boring with her around. She has "sudden" feet, but there is no malice on her part. She has gone full circle from hair pulling, to pretty close to wonderful.

Another try for Jessie

Jessie finally caught her duck last night when it was almost dark, and didn't get to eat much before I picked her up. The Owls were hooting, and it was time for the day shift to retire. She was a bit low in weight last night, and only got enough Pigeon to bring her weight up a little bit. As they say "its an ill wind that blows nobody any good", so we had to go hunting again today. Oh well, its a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

First however Tami brought Jasper over for a Sparrow hunt here at the house. I am not sure what happened, but there were no Sparrows or Starlings here at either Chicken pen. Luckily I had a Starling that I had captured yesterday, and I decided to try something different this time. I put tape over the Starlings eyes, but did not pull any feathers.

We started walking out in the field in front of the hanger, and Jasper as is his habit took off to keep vigil above us. He finally got up in the air at a decent height, and I yelled and tossed the Starling. With their eyes closed, most birds have a tendency to fly high rather than a level "leave the area" flight. This one did just that, but Jasper was confused. ( I have noticed on all of his earlier flights at bagged game, that he never actually made any "air strikes", but chased them to the ground and then bound to them.) He didn't seem to know what to do, and stayed within a few feet of the Starling, but did not close with it. They rang up to about 250 feet or more, drifting down towards the creek of course. The Starling finally begin to get tired and started towards the ground. Luckily Tami and Isabel both have better eyes than I, and saw him finally grab the Starling just before they hit the ground over on the other side of the creek. Thankfully Starlings scream bloody murder when in the talons of a raptor, so they were able to follow the sounds of the assault in progress. I am not sure whether it was the different style of flight that threw him off, or if he is reluctant to close while in the air.

At 4PM I took Jessie over to the ranch to see if we could do a bit better than she did last night. As we walked out to release Jessie, I looked up to see a Starling flying for all it was worth about 400 feet up in the air. Right behind him and closing the gap was a Sharp shinned Hawk. I had already pulled Jessie's hood, and she watched the contest as avidly as Tami and I. It became obvious that the Sharpy was going to catch it. The Starling turned down and started stroking for all it was worth towards the cover of the Cattails. They disappeared at about the same time, but the conclusion was not clear to us. Jessie however took off after them, and the Sharpy vacated the area well in front of her. She lost interest and turned back towards us. I was sorry that I had not seen the flight before unhooding Jessie. If ever a hawk deserved its meal, that one surely did.

http://www.google.com/search?q=sharp+shinned+hawk&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ACjgTqX8N6iMigKKjoHgDg&ved=0CF8QsAQ&biw=1600&bih=797

Soon she was higher than she needed to be to ditch hawk, and we started towards the creek. Several ducks flushed and she couldn't get down faster than they could get back into the creek. We walked a bit further down and flushed some Mallards. She was in position, but decided to not hit the Mallard Drake. Not sure if it was because it was over the creek or because she once broke her leg hitting a Drake Mallard. Either way, she "whiffed" him. Another bunch got up and she knocked a Gadwall back into the ditch. By that time she had been flying and trying to get a duck over the ground for quite a while, so she flew to a fence post to rest a bit.

I walked down even with her and waited for her to rest a bit. Soon she took off again and we where back in business. I was trying to make my best speed down the creek to get in front of a bunch of ducks that had put in the creek. I wanted to pinch them in between Tami and I. I am getting too clumsy to walk and watch her, so I just do my best and she either is in position or not. Her choice. I flushed two Mallards in one of the curves, and while I thought there should be more, I didn't go back. I turned down the creek and soon heard Tami calling that she had caught one. The ducks that I thought should be there had tried to get past Tami, but Jessie smashed one into the ground, when it got too far out of the creek bed.

I unrolled my waders and crossed the creek to help her. She was having a pretty good fight with the duck, but she had it subdued by the time I got there. It was a Mallard hen. So I guess it was the creek that caused her to whiff the Drake. Normally she grabs the Mallards and smashes the Gadwalls and smaller ducks. A Mallard weighs more than Jessie does, and a wrong hit could injure her, but my guess is that she was pissed and wasn't going to let this crap go on any further.

After I helped her kill it, I clipped her up and tied her to my bag. I then offered her a Pigeon to eat, which she accepted. While she was eating I plucked the duck for a "wild duck dinner" for the ranch later this week. I generally don't eat what the Hawks catch, unless it is a Pheasant, but I found that smoked Duck is edible, and I wanted the folks at the ranch to taste something besides beef. A bonus for us is enjoying their company.

As usual, I forgot my camera. :-/

Karen and I spent the night in Boise Monday, and returned today about 10AM. It was really cold when we left Monday at 7 AM. It was 4 degrees at the top of the hill, so I decided to leave the birds in the shop. Jessie could have handled the cold with no problem, but the Harris's would not have handled it that well. Tami agreed to come over and do the evening chores for us and check on the girls to make sure that they were alright. Sharron came over around 10 AM and picked up the dogs, so that Betsey would not be a dog sickle when we came back.

Karen had to have some out patient surgery, and we felt that it would be better to stay in town to make sure that her recovery had no complications. Every thing was fine, and she is recovering nicely with no problems.

All three of the girls were down to weight when I got back, so Tami came over at 1 PM and we went to Arock to see if we could catch a Rabbit. The girls are really showing improvement, and Puddy did not disappoint, and she soon had a Jack by the tips of her talons in one rear leg. She was up against a big limb, and was just about to lose it. Tami got there before me and used her perch to pin the Jack long enough for Yogi to get around in front and snake her foot through a small hole in the brush, shoving it right in its face. Perhaps I should say grabbing a foot full of face.

 After Yogi stepped in, I stepped back and took a picture. I generally get so busy that I don't get any pictures. I then gave the camera to Tami with instructions to take anything that looked interesting.

 I broke the limb out of Puds face so that she could stand up. It is a real wonder that she was able to hold on. If you look at the picture above, she can't have much to hang on to.

After I got the birds sorted out, I killed the Jack, and we gave Yogi a Bunny leg to chew on, and I tore off a front leg for Puddy. She actually let go and came to the fist quite easily this time. I let her take it to the bushes to eat, while we took Yogi on to try to catch another while she was eating.

Yogi did her best and made some great shots that were so close that it was amazing that she didn't connect. She is improving each and every trip. She is so aware of where the rabbits are hiding, and will not leave the area if the rabbit is hiding somewhere nearby. It is very interesting, yet at the same time it is aggravating. It is a wonderful survival technique that she has developed through her time on her own, but often it is better to just go on and jump another one. However, we most often do not get to do what is better.

We hunted pretty hard for the next two hours of so, but could not get the break that we needed. Puddy just doesn't try as hard with a front leg in her crop, and Yogi still hasn't perfected the twists and turns that she needs to connect. It is coming however.

We got back home and I did the chores, put on my waders, and took Jessie over to Tami's to try for Ducks. She was down about an ounce, and acted quite desperate. We turned her loose and she got up and into what should have been the perfect position. It is hard to run over broken ground and keep track of her, so I require her to keep herself in position when I start running. If she is out of position, then that's too bad. Well she apparently wasn't paying that much attention, and several nice ducks made their escape down the ditch. She came sweeping down and grabbed a Duck heading down the ditch, but apparently couldn't keep them both in the air long enough to reach dry ground, so she lost him in the water.
She was sitting on a fence post at the end of the field. We busted at least three bunches of Duck on the way there, and she just sat.

Apparently the Duck that she had her feet on, was somewhere in front of her, and she wanted it pretty badly. I finally got her back in the air. We crawled through the fence and started down the ditch. Another bunch of Ducks flushed and flew back up the creek. Jessie came down in a sizzling stoop and slammed one of the Ducks. She hit him hard enough that when he hit the water the splash came up over the tops of some pretty tall Cattails. She sat on the fence again, sulking. I kept on down the creek, and finally teased her into flying again.

Once she was in the air, Tami and I started down the ditch. We soon flushed another bunch of Ducks, and Jessie who was off to our left singled a Gadwall out and struck him with a terrific slashing blow that left him on his back with his feet waving in the air. She wasn't about to let this one get away.
 
It was almost dark by the time that she caught him. I gave her a Pigeon to eat while I plucked the duck. When I finished, I picked her up and we walked home. It was a good day, but a long one.

Behind again.

Karen and I were off to Boise for a Doctor trip on Thursday the first. Tami and Isabel brought Jasper over  around 2 PM for his hunt. Jasper has a routine where-in he first goes to the outside Chicken pens then to the captive pen and keeps an eye on the rock wall behind the pen. The Sparrows generally will try to hide in the wall, giving him a good shot at them. The first was no different than the others and Jasper soon had his wild Sparrow.

My regular computer apparently has a bad hard drive, so I am having to use the laptop and I do not do that well with it, so pictures are not available for his hunt.

The second was just too windy and nasty to even go outside. I fed the girls enough to get them by until today in the hopes that the wind would abate just a bit.

Today, Saturday, was cold as could be, but the wind has finally died down enough to hunt the Harris Hawks. First Tami came over with Jasper for his hunt. Unfortunately the Sparrows are becoming much smarter and were scarce as could be. After we exhausted all our options it was time to work on his "waiting on" flight, so I got a Starling from my reserve and not wanting another 350 yard flight and swim, I pulled 6 primaries from its right wing. When we started walking towards the open field, Jasper took to the wing and started climbing in front of us. As he reached about 100 feet, I yelled and tossed the Starling. He wasted no time in capturing it. If you will notice from the video that he is smart about making his grab on the Starling. Make no mistake, a Starling is well equipped to defend itself, and weighs just about as much as Jasper himself does. When we arrived, he had the Starling by the throat with both feet, thus keeping that Sharp beak well away from him. Tami helped him with holding and killing the Starling.
http://vimeo.com/33091144  Here is a video of the flight.

After he had a bit of a chance to eat, and I had a chance to get my stuff together to take the girls out for a long overdue hunt. Tami put Jasper on one of the inside perches to finish his meal, and I picked up the girls and weighed them. Pud was 850 grams and Yogi was 1160, so both were just right in my opinion for the hunt. I wanted Puddy to be a bit on the high side in the hopes that she would not be so hungry that she  would be reckless and possibly get one or the other hurt.

We had just gotten into the field when a Jack jumped up in front of Tami and Pud. Pud burned him down in about 20 feet. Yogi had also taken off in pursuit at the same time, but climbed to about 25 feet or more, did a wing over and slammed into the Jack as well. She hit it hard enough that I could clearly hear the strike. A two pound mace with talons will give you a honest comparison. This time I was a bit worried, but while there was a terrific pile up, neither bird had anything in its feet other than Jack Rabbit.

 Pud had grabbed the Jack by the Butt, and I am sure that it was dragging her around, right up until Yogi Slammed into his head. Of course once Yogi had the head, Puddy changed her grip to what was open on the head or the front shoulders.

 If you remember one of the last entries talked about Puddy getting slammed into the Sage roots and knocked off. I suggested that she might grab and lie down while holding on. Both are doing just that, and both have either the head or the front shoulders. Yogi at one point had a Jack foot and hind leg on either side of her head. I was too busy to take a picture. I had to again kill the rabbit by stopping his heart. Since Yogi is by far the most sensible one, I had Tami come over to my left and offer Yogi a prepared chunk of meat. She stepped off with no problem and left me with the "excitable" one. She actually did a lot better than she has in the past, and I got her on a front leg with no holes in my hands. Highly unusual!

We left Puddy under a bush eating her prize and went on with Yogi, who had by this time swallowed the entire large chunk of meat that she had been given. We found a couple of flights, but nothing that was in our favor. I begin to think about where Puddy might have gotten to, so we circled around. She came up off the ground and flew to me. I think she was a bit confused that no one was around. 

 We were finding that the rabbits had abandoned that section of the Sage due to our hunting pressure, so we crossed the fence into another field that hadn't been hunted for quite some time. It was obvious that Pud had lost a bit of her edge, but Yogi was still in there as energetic as she had started.

Finally after Yogi and Pud had made two more Jack chases that had not worked out, we started a Bunny. Yogi was the first, and when the Bunny hid, Yogi began clawing for altitude and Pud made a shot that moved him from his hiding place. I did the best that I could, but I just ain't what I used to be. It avoided both birds, but Yogi was right on its butt when it took refuge in the rock ledge that was nearby. I saw where it went to cover. So I kept my eye on the spot. As I drew near, it changed what was obviously an insecure spot and tried for another one that had it undercover, but not out of my sight. Yogi flew to my perch, and was looking hard into the rocks and I could tell that she had picked him out. There was just a patch of fur, but it was enough for her to see. Each time I hunt with her, I am amazed at her ability to see hiding rabbits.

I asked Tami with Pud to come in above and block that avenue of escape. The Bunny bolted, but Yogi was ready and off the fist at his first move. She caught him just as he cleared the rocks, and Puddy slammed into him as well.

This time I was again worried, but the only thing in their feet was Bunny. This time it was Yogi who was the more difficult to get to release her hold for food. It makes sense, they know who caught it. I cut off the first Jack's rear legs and we each claimed a Harris and began the trek back.

Today was a real break through. heretofore we had caught one and then fed both birds up. We had tried to hunt some more, but had no success due to the fact that the birds were not trying as hard as they were before. this time I had a smaller reward for the one who had not caught the rabbit, thus she was still on her game. It takes a bit for the food to reach the stomach, and since there was less, she didn't feel as satisfied and still wanted to catch another. It is important that they don't quit hunting just because someone tags a rabbit. Today went a long way towards that knowledge.

There were several subtle changes in both birds today, that please me very much. Pud had lost several Jacks because Yogi had not helped her. The reason for that reticence was that Yogi was unsure if Pud was safe to help. You have to remember that both birds carry lethal weapons on both feet, and care and respect are needed in dealing with either one. Today they both acted without reserve, and both were respectful of the other. There was trust today, and that is the most important part of it. Because of that trust, both birds were working with each other for the real first time. When one missed or the Jack hid, the other would wait for it to bolt again. For the first time today I saw them make four (two each) different shots at the same rabbit by taking advantage of what the other one did. It is coming together.

Yogi is beginning to make more of an effort to stay with us, because she realizes that were we are where it happens. She has never required tidbits to come to us, she just hasn't come that far as often as I would like. She isn't where she needs to be, but is better.

Yogi for the first time got into her box without being forced to. She had not liked the box, and only got in there when she was forced to. Today she bated towards the box.

When we got home, Tami picked up Jasper and went home, while I picked up Jessie and got her ready to hunt over at Tami's.

We couldn't see any evidence of ducks in front of her house, so we went up the creek on the other side of the barn. I turned her loose and she decided that it was a really nice day to fly, and she did, only coming back to us when she was tired and her pitch had lowered to about 150 feet. We rushed an empty ditch. We started down the ditch and when she was out of position, flushed several Mallards. There was another bunch of them a bit further down that waited until she was far out of position to fly away. By this time she was out of gas, and sat on a post until I called her to the lure. Oh well, it wouldn't do to catch something every time I went out. Just isn't supposed to happen. It was still a very good day. Perhaps tomorrow afternoon.

I had thought that I was done for the evening, but the driveway alarm has changed my mind. Yesterday we had a bit of a mystery. When it is cold, I generally do not do morning chores until it warms up a bit. That is generally around 9:30 to 10 AM. I turned the dogs out, and when I went back in Betsy had a Jack Rabbit foot that she was chewing on. It was not frozen, so it was fresh. Karen said that she saw her in the garden. I went over to look, and found a pile of rabbit hair up against the garden wall, mush as though a hawk had caught it and hid to eat it as they are wont to do. The mystery was that there was no tracks other than that probably made by Betsy, and there was no blood. I could only surmise that a Coyote had gotten the Jack and carried the rest of the body off. Still didn't make sense however.

Then the driveway alarm which is set on the end of the hanger, went off at 9:15 PM. There should be nothing out there. I thought it might be one of the neighbors cows, so I went out to look with the spot light. We left the dogs in the house. When I got out there was no cow, but there was a Bob Cat hiding under the truck. It was a small half grown one, but that explains the mystery.